Pence to EU: U.S. support steadfast
Upset by Trump, allies reassured
BRUSSELS — Vice President Mike Pence told a Europe rattled by President Donald Trump’s criticisms of European institutions and threats to upend foreign policies that would affect them that Trump fully supports the European Union and NATO.
“The president did ask me to come here to Brussels, to the home of the European Union, and deliver an additional message,” Pence said while standing next to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council and a former prime minister of Poland. “So today it’s my privilege, on behalf of President Trump, to express the strong commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the European Union.”
The vice president also reiterated security promises, noting the “heartbreaking”
suicide bombings at the Brussels airport and subway system in March and saying the U.S. would continue to collaborate with EU partners to address safety and fight terrorism.
“The United States’ commitment to the European Union is steadfast and enduring,” he said.
Trump’s presidency has been met with anxiety in Europe thus far, in part because of executive orders he has signed regarding immigration and trade. He also has expressed support for Britain’s vote last year to leave the 28-nation EU and suggested that the EU itself could soon fall apart; vowed to undo a series of multinational trade deals; and expressed interest in warming ties with Russia.
In January, Trump called the EU “basically a vehicle for Germany,” language that stunned leaders of the bloc, which has been facing economic malaise, migration and Britain’s intention to withdraw. Days later, Tusk, who represents the union’s 28 national leaders, described Trump’s bombastic and skeptical language as a threat to European unity alongside Russian aggression,
Chinese assertiveness and Islamist terrorism.
On Monday, after meeting with Pence, Tusk said he felt reassured. In a detailed statement, he said he had asked Pence whether the Trump administration was committed to maintaining an international order based on rules and laws; whether Trump was committed to NATO and to “the closest possible trans-Atlantic cooperation”; and whether Europe could count, “as always in the past, on the United States’ wholehearted and unequivocal, let me repeat, unequivocal support for the idea of a united Europe.”
“In reply to these three matters,” Tusk said, “I heard today from Vice President Pence three times ‘yes’! After such a positive declaration, both Europeans and Americans must simply practice what they preach.”
Regarding NATO, which Trump had called “obsolete” during his campaign, Pence insisted upon the administration’s strong support for the alliance but warned that Trump wants to see “real progress” by the end of the year on boosting defense spending. He made his remarks after meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
NATO leaders agreed in 2014 that alliance members needed to start spending at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product by 2024. Only five nations currently do so: the United States, Britain, Poland, Estonia and Greece.
“The truth is many others, including some of our largest allies, still lack a clear and credible path to meet this minimum goal,” Pence said.
Asked what the administration would do if allies failed to meet the defense spending target, Pence said, “I don’t know what the answer is to ‘or else,’ but I know that the patience of the American people will not endure forever.”
In his own remarks, Stoltenberg said he had been reassured of the Trump administration’s commitment to NATO.
“I have heard exactly the same firm message from the president of the United States in two phone calls, from the vice president in meetings today and in Munich, and from Secretaries Mattis and Kelly,” said Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, referring to Defense Secretary James Mattis and the secretary
of Homeland Security, John Kelly, who both were in Munich over the weekend. “They have all conveyed the same message: that the United States is firmly committed to the trans-Atlantic partnership and have an unwavering support for the NATO alliance.”
SHARED ECONOMIES
Pence also said Monday that he supported the firing of the national security adviser, Michael Flynn, whom the administration blamed for misleading Pence about the extent of his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
“Let me say, I’m very grateful for the close working relationship I have with the president of the United States,” Pence said, adding, “I was disappointed to learn that the facts that have been conveyed to me by Gen. Flynn were inaccurate.”
The administration has not explained why Trump did not immediately tell Pence about Flynn’s conversations with the ambassador after the president learned about them from his top lawyer, and Pence did not shed light on that question Monday.
Regarding Russia, Pence, as he did in an address Saturday in Munich, also said Monday
that Trump would demand that Russia honor its commitments to end the fighting in Ukraine.
“In the interest of peace and in the interest of innocent human lives, we hope and pray that this cease-fire takes hold,” he said.
Another concern shared by many European policymakers is the possibility that the Trump administration will impose protectionist tariffs as part of his goal of getting jobs back into the United States.
In brief remarks before his own meeting with Pence, JeanClaude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, warned that the United States was more dependent on Europe than was commonly believed.
“The U.S. economy is depending more than some in the U.S. would think on the exchanges, the trade volumes — including Indiana, by the way — between the U.S. and the European Union,” Juncker said, referring to the state where Pence was governor before becoming vice president.
Information for this article was contributed by Gardiner Harris and James Kanter of The New
York Times and by Ken Thomas and Lorne Cook of The Associated Press.